You have probably heard the phrase “content is king” or “content is king” if you work in online marketing. But the content that I want to talk about here is the articles. It is the most important and powerful primary tool for connecting with readers, attracting customers and enhancing brand positioning in the industry.
But to be successful, an article not only needs good quality but it also has to be search engine friendly (ie good SEO) too. And you! SEO people, who write content or newbies need to have the right perspective on this job and how important it is to sales or the growth of the business.
💡 “Article” is just a form of content; for a full picture, read What is content and types of content parallel to this song.
What is the article?
A piece of writing is a form of text or content created to convey information, opinions, knowledge, or feelings about a particular topic. It is a very popular and important communication tool in many important areas such as communication, education, business, and entertainment.
Characteristics:
- Articles are often written to provide information, explanation, persuasion, or entertainment to reach and persuade readers.
- The content of articles is often designed to serve a specific audience, depending on the business strategy or purpose.
- It can come in a variety of forms including online platforms and paper – based texts.
Types of online articles:
The article that I want to talk about here is not only the simple text but it is also how you tell the story to convey a message that creates useful value for readers. In my years of work, there are 4 types of content that are most interested in:
- News & Events These are documents that provide the latest information about important events related to products, services or the latest news about the industry and society. In particular, you can see almost all corporate websites have news sections.
- Blog: This is content that shares a personal perspective or experience that builds a personal connection with your readers. For example, your blog.
- Instructions: To provide specific instruction to help the reader (the reader) solve a problem or learn a new skill.
- Product Rating: This type of content usually analyzes and makes a judgment about the product / service, helping readers make smart decisions.
The structure of a simple article
A successful article is always structured, logical, and highly connected to ensure that it is easier for readers to follow up and learn.
The usual article structure includes:
- Attractive Title: Titles are often created to hit the needs of readers to make them interact (read the article, click on links, or click on that title for SEO). For example: “How to write SEO standards to increase effective website traffic!”
- Open attractions: Your introduction is usually about asking a question or a problem to pique your reader’s curiosity.
- Body Post Detail: To provide accurate, useful information and arranged in the most understandable, logical order possible.
- Strong conclusion: The conclusion is often a call – to – action, encouraging the reader to share or apply the information they want to convey.
How to write quality articles
To talk about writing quality articles is very long and difficult to convey with just a few sentences but you can refer to some basic ideas as follows:
- Always research to understand your readers: Who needs to read the article? What do they need? What problems does the article solve for them?
- Make an outline before writing: A clear outline with a logical structure will help you avoid rambling and focus more when writing.
- Natural Language: I often write articles like I’m talking to a friend and feel it’s always more useful than the more technical, dry stuff.
- Generate real value: The article should provide new information, address specific issues, and limit generalizations.
Optimize your posts with SEO
A good article will stop you if you do not promote, introduce it to readers. And to do that well, you need to SEO or share to social networks. Here I choose SEO because I specialize in this more.
To apply SEO to your posts, you need to understand the following very basic factors:
💡 After grasping the definition, the next step is to practice: write good articles and… Optimize post for SEO standards.
- Keyword research: I often use keyword research tools such as Google Keyword Planer, Keywordtool, Semrush to understand what readers are looking for.
- Optimize title and description: The title and description should contain keywords so that search engines can better recognize the content
- Use internal and external links: Whether internal or external links, only choose sources that are reliable and relevant to the content you are writing.
- Image should also be optimized: Set the image file and ALT card (alternative text) with keywords, compressed with small capacity but the quality is not affected. In particular, in Duan’s experience, the image should have a logo, can convey relevant messages because I have a feeling “Google can understand the content on the image“.
SEO is key to your articles not only staying in the content value but also more easily reaching readers. Here are the factors to keep in mind:
Writing Support Tools
You can use some of the following tools to help you with your writing:
- Grammarly, Hemingway Edior: Helping check grammar and spelling errors for English content.
- Yoast SEO, Ranktmath SEO,..: These are SEO plugins that are used to optimize posts on WordPress
- Copyscape: Check plagiarism to ensure the best unique. Currently I see this check tool is the most standard and of course it has a fee.
Should I write it myself or hire a service?
If you need to build SEO standard articles for your website but do not have manpower or time, you can consider hiring a writing service for some reasons as follows:
- Save time to better focus on the main task
- Ensure SEO content quality, error-free and suitable for your audience
- Create professional, consistent and engaging content to help increase brand awareness. Thereby, customers may have a more positive view of the business in the future.
In general, articles are not only a tool to convey information but also show business culture and bridge between you, brand and readers. And to succeed, you need to balance between quality content and SEO optimization to reach customers (readers) better and more effectively.
💡 Need a complete, optimal article ready to post? SEO standard writing recognition according to your requirement.
